Read period runs from Saturday, December 8 through Tuesday, December 11. Exams start on Wednesday, December 12 and end on Friday, December 21.

Spring 2013 Schedule and Registration.

•Final Spring 2013 Schedule and Registration Bulletin.The final Spring 2013 class schedule, the Registration Bulletin, and the course and exam grids are available on the Spring 2013 Quick Guide page, or by going to the Current Students Portal page and clicking on the Quick Guide link. Print copies are available on the table outside the third floor cafeteria.

•Registration Instructions. Registration will take place from Wednesday, November 28, 8:30am through Tuesday, December 4, 11:00pm. You may register at any time during that period. To register beginning on Wednesday, November 28, go to the Spring 2013 Quick Guide page and click on the "Online Registration" link.

After the end of the initial registration period, the registration requests will be processed according to each student’s registration priority. In other words, registration will not be conducted on a first-come, first-served basis. As long as you register during the designated period, you will have an equal chance of being admitted to a class as other students within your registration priority group.

To learn what classes you have been admitted into, you must check the online registration site on or after Friday, December 7. Registering for a class during the initial registration period is no guarantee that you will be admitted into the class – you must check the web site on or after Friday, December 7 to learn what classes you have been admitted into.

•Graduating Students: Reduced Loads and Tuition Discounts. Students graduating at the end of the Spring 2013 semester who need fewer than the minimum number of hours to graduate may take fewer credits without special permission. In addition, if you will be graduating at the end of the Spring 2013 semester, and will be taking more than the 87 credits required to graduate, you may receive a 50% discount on each credit you take over the required 87 credits. If this affects you, please contact me by email no later than Friday, February 1, 2013, and I will arrange for the credit to be applied to your account.

•Registration for First-Year Students. Although first-year students have set schedules, you still must register for your Spring courses using the Online Registration system. Please be careful to register for the doctrinal classes listed for your current section, and for the Legal Writing section taught by your current professor.

Fall 2012 Final Exams.

•Exam Schedule. The final exam schedule for the current semester is available here. You can find your personal exam schedule by logging into Web for Students and navigating to the Fall 2012 link under the Schedule heading (it appears below your academic schedule for the semester). You will be notified of the classroom assignments for your exams prior to the start of exam period.

•Exam Conflict/Reschedule Requests. The period is now closed for requesting an exam reschedule due to an exam conflict or other reason. If you submitted a reschedule request and have not received a response, please contact Jenna Abhijeet, the Director of Student Services, at jabhijeet@kentlaw.iit.edu.

•Exam Method Registration.The period is now closed for exam method registration.

Notice about SofTest: Students taking exams on laptop must download and install the SofTest exam-taking program. You will receive information from the Computer Center about when and how to do this. Even though you do not need to submit an Exam Method Registration form to use your laptop for exams, you do need to download and install SofTest. In addition, you must download the new version of SofTest even if you have an older version from a prior semester. You cannot use older versions of the program - you must have the new version of SofTest. This includes first-year students who took a midterm exam on SofTest - you will need to download the new version for final exams.

Unless a professor specifies otherwise, SofTest is configured to lock students out of other programs and services on their computers for the duration of the exam. This means that, unless a professor specifically authorizes access, students will not have access to notes, outlines, or other materials stored on their hard drive or the network.

Notice About Borrowing Laptops from the Computer Center: The Computer Center has a limited supply of laptop computers reserved for use in emergency situations that arise during exam period. Please contact Dean Sowle if you opt to take an exam on laptop, and your laptop suffers unexpected problems that cannot be remedied before your exam. The Computer Center's laptops also may be used (subject to availability) if your computer has problems immediately before or during an exam, as long as the problem is not due to your failing to properly configure or register your laptop to run the SofTest program. Because of limited supply, the Computer Center's laptops are not available for general loaning purposes during exam period. However, if you have exceptional circumstances that you believe justify borrowing a laptop for an exam, please contact Dean Sowle to discuss your situation.

Notice to Hand Writers: Students who are hand writing an exam will be placed in the same room used by laptop users for that exam. Hand writers will not be put in a separate room.

•Availability of Professors' Old Exams. Many professors make their old exams available for students to review. Exams after 1992 are available online by going tohttp://library.kentlaw.edu/Courses/index.htm and clicking on the Exam Database link. Exams dating from 1992 and before are bound in volumes available in the 10th floor reading room in the Library.

llinois Bar Exam Information Sessions. The Illinois bar examiners will be holding informational sessions for first-year students, and for third-year and fourth-year students approaching graduation, at Chicago-Kent on Tuesday, November 20, 2012. The sessions will run as follows: (1) 12:00-12:50 pm for first-year day students, in Rm. 590; (2) 5:00-5:50 pm for first-year evening students, in Rm. 590; and (3) 4:00-4:50 pm for students graduating this academic year, in Rm. 590.

You should plan to attend the appropriate session for your status if (1) you are a first-year student and you have questions about the first-year bar registration process; (2) you are a third-year or fourth-year student planning on taking the February 2013 or July 2013 bar exams and you have questions about the application or character and fitness process; or (3) you are a student at any stage of your studies and you have questions about the character and fitness process. If you are unable to attend one of the sessions, you may contact Vanessa Williams at the bar examiners' office (217-522-5917) to discuss the information provided in the sessions.

See my Record archives for September 3 for more information on bar registration process for first-year students, and for the application process for the February 2013 and July 2013 bar exams for graduating students. We recommend that you download and look over the application and/or registration materials available at https://www.ilbaradmissions.org before the November 20 programs.

Teaching Evaluations. Teaching evaluations will be distributed in the coming weeks to elicit students' opinions about the quality of teaching at the Law School. Evaluations are anonymous and will not be available to professors until grades are turned in. Instructors will review the responses to improve the quality of their instruction and courses. The evaluations are also considered as one important factor in tenure, promotion, and compensation decisions for full-time faculty and are used as a factor in determining the effectiveness of part-time instructors.

Joke of the Week. Question: What do you get when you cross a judge with poison ivy? Answer: Rash decisions.